The Fate of U-Doma
by The Lone Captain
Summary: This is a merge of two writers with two perspectives in the story. This version follows a retired naval fleet admiral from the year 3335, who is sucked into a black hole and sent to another universe. He has no intentions to help either side of the ever rising tensions between Humans and Zootopians, but to get home he may have to pick a side.
1. Chapter 1: Shafted

**Authors Note: This is a joint story between myself and another writer by the name of Dexios. It's not the way you might be thinking however. This is a shared universe in where each of us writes our own character's perspective on our own 'channel' I guess you could call it. Anyway, long in the short, I have my version of this story, and he has his version of the story, so I recommend you check out each of our sides to this story.**

 **Also, this is yet another** **squeal in my story-line; You could almost consider them to be the most detailed backstory ever.**

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 _The Fate of U-Doma, Chapter One: Shafted_

 _Change is the end result of all true learning._

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Space is an unforgiving place, even in the year thirty-three thirty-five. The human race once reached into the depths of space, colonizing everything we could reach, however, that led to unforgivable actions. The destruction of the Lunovian race is now a distant memory in our history, but I know why they were killed off, I know why the human race dropped from over a trillion to less than five-hundred thousand in a year, I know what killed us all… The only thing that kept us from the brink of extinction was an advanced cryogenics facility hidden in an asteroid belt outside the Sol solar system.

After awakening the people who would repopulate the human species, I set off into the void with my fiance and daughter, Jacqueline and Ella. Their planet was over forty thousand light-years away from Earth, and the chances of me ever returning to my home was slim. I wasn't going to just leave the human race on it's own, so I ordered my advanced Ai to recuperate the human race. I don't know what happened to my species or if it was finished off sometime after I left with my family, although just a year after arriving on the distant world I'd come to know as home, a distress message from Earth was picked up on my scanners.

I should've known it was a trap set by the ones that wiped out humanity in the first place; They obviously wanted revenge for the destruction of everything they knew. Only a few hyperspace jumps into my journey to Earth, I was pulled from the depths of witch-space, and spit out in decaying orbit around a black hole without fuel or thrusters to save me. I decided in that moment I was going to document my life so that the species within the Galaxy would know of what laid in the darkness. Every hour I spent recording my life story was almost twenty years in normal space, and by the time I'd finished the whole thing, just over three thousand years had gone by in the span of a week.

Everything I knew and loved was long gone, all my friends had forgotten me, my wife was nothing more than dust in the wind, and my children were forced to grow up without their father to take care of them. I'd never be able to know if they had children of their own, or if I had any descendants. I still had dreams of holding my family in my arms every night, only to wake up and realize over and over that they were all gone. It truly was the worst punishment to be given.

The upside to it all was my time left was limited, perhaps only a few hours remained before I'd be sucked into the singularity. The air in my dark and lifeless ship was dry from draining the recirculator for drinking water, and my food provisions were completely gone. We never developed artificial gravity, so floating around the ship hallways was normal. With each push-off from a wall, the ship creaked in rebellion, as if someone was driving a knife into a living creature. Every breath I made caused a white puff of fog to roll forth from my nose due to the failing life support. Temperatures were low the past few days, and steadily dropping as the hours passed. I didn't actually have a thermometer, however all my remaining water froze yesterday, so that's a pretty good indicator.

I eventually made it to the bridge, and sat down in my chair to gaze out at the last glimmers of stars as they rotated in and out of view.

"What do you think's on the other side?" The female AI asked in a wondering tone. "I bet we'll be taken to another galaxy." She added in a chipper tone.

Knowing your death is near is an interesting knowledge to have, it's a depressing thing to think about. "Martha, we both know it's just going to crush us." I said with a pitiful sigh as I pulled off my pearly white wedding band.

"Oh C'mon, you don't know that _."_ She replied.

"Martha, it's not helping." I said with aggravation. "We've sent thousands of hyperspace capable prodes into these things, and haven't ONCE found a signal!" I shouted, not really directly out of anger towards the ship's Ai, but more towards being afraid of dying.

"...Sorry." She mumbled. "I just don't want you to be sad."

"I know, Martha… I know."

"I don't blame you, Sir. With the upgrades Starfire gave me, I'm afraid of what will happen when we impact the singularity, I just experience the fear differently than you."

"Did you ever find someone to love?" I asked while twisting the ring on my finger absentmindedly.

"No, Sir. I went on a few dates, but the Bio-computer made me feel funny whenever someone complimented me... I think it was broken."

"Heh-heh-heh… That's what real emotions feel like, Martha." I said moments before displaying a three dimensional image of my Wife's fluffy face in front of me. When I reached out to touch her cheek, my hand only phased through the hologram. "I think I'd like to sit in silence now."

"Oh… okay then." Martha said glumly before disappearing all together.

I sat strapped into my flight seat, looking at my wife's face for hours as the cabin temperature dropped colder and colder, eventually overcoming my compression armor's ability to keep me warm. I watched quietly as my time counted down to zero, and the closer we became to the surface the more the ship creaked under the gravitational pressure. I spent my last minutes looking at a picture of my family, and friends all standing together on my wedding day. When the ship's proximity sensors ticked off, I closed my eyes and took a final breath in.

Right as my lungs peaked in capacity, the sound of metal being ripped apart filled my ears as everything went numb, dark, and unbearably cold. I heard the sound of muffled screams and shrieks as memories of watching my soldiers die flashed before me. Eventually the screams gave way to whimpering as I saw my Arctic fox daughter curled up on her bed as she clutched a tear stained picture of me.

"Your time has not come, there is still one more task I have for you." A female voice whispered as a memory of all five Guardians stood in a line, smiling and happy as they wore their different colored togas flashed before me. Their various colored wings extended wide behind them, and I made out myself in the center, smiling and happy as I held a sphere of energy in my hand. I felt like I could reach out and touch the image of who I used to call friends. That memory stayed with me for awhile, and I began to wonder how our relationship degraded into total war. At first I thought about how it was all their fault, how they manipulated me into being the most powerful human in existence. As time went by, I began thinking of how I could be the one responsible. Never in the history of the Guardians existence had there ever been a rebellion so devastating as mine... Maybe it was both of our faults.

I took a breath in as I closed my eyes to contemplate the past, however, the instant my eyes were shut, I saw a blinding light on the inside of my eyelids. Opening the latter forced me to blink in rapid succession as my eyes adjusted from the dark void to this blinding expanse. The place I was put in left me confused and angry.

White emptiness as far as the eye could see. Everything was pure white, and their was no origin of the light filling this 'room'. I was very familiar as to what this room resembled, and knowing that sent me into an indescribable anger. "It was just a fucking simulation!" I screamed.

I remained like this for a few minutes, however, I calmed down upon realizing the implications of an unknown time in history being simulated. If it was just the time after I left for Earth, this was the best thing that could happen to me. That would mean my family was still alive. I then thought on what if the entire war against the Guardians had been simulated.

"All those people could still be alive." I muttered as I paced back and forth, eventually pulling up the holographic display integrated into my Compression suit's left arm.

"What's the probability of the last week being simulated?"

"Simulation probability… twenty three percent." The suit replied.

"...What's the probability of the war against the Guardians being simulated?" I asked as a pit formed in my stomach.

"Simulation probability… Incalculable probability, please integrate with mainframe to determine results."

"Worth a shot." I despondently mumbled; Besides the computer not knowing the question, just the fact that I had sensory perception meant that this wasn't a disembarkation screen from a simulation. It sure looked like one though, every detail was exactly the same besides the presence of sensory perception. I had a few ideas at to what this place could be, although I eventually dismissed the theories, thinking that they were far fetched.

"C'mon, give me something, anything to go on." I whispered to myself while slowly spinning around; Surely if this was a real place I'd see something out there.

A person... I saw a person off in the distance, maybe half a kilometer away, perhaps a little further. Too far to speak to, but close enough to acquire basic details. Black hair, white skin color and completely naked. Despite the universe giving me the shaft, I found humor in seeing that naked man stare back at me. "Heh-heh-heh, look at that fool..." I muttered, finding it comical that he was naked and I wasn't. I guess the thought of seeing another person naked prompted me to look down. "THE FUCK!"

Only moments after realizing my predicament, I found my vision fading before me, tunneling in until there was nothing but darkness. Just as fast as my vision failed me, I shot upright in the middle of a forest, still without any clothing. "Rachel… you won, okay. You fucking killed off the humans. What else could you possibly want from me?" I asked aloud, going over any possible option as to explain this situation. I then realized something that made my heart lurch into my throat. " _My wedding ring."_ I thought at the lack of feeling the band on my finger.

"No-no-no-no-no!" I shouted while searching through the dirt. I searched and searched for the ring, to no avail. "Please, just let me keep it..." I whimpered as tears welled in my eyes. All I wished for was to go home in my own time, and if not that, just to say goodbye to my family one last time.

"C'mon, get ahold of yourself." I said while wiping away the tears in my eyes. After mustering control over my emotions, I began scanning the area for a direction I was going to travel on. Whatever place I was put in was relaxing; Green trees as far as the eye could see into the surrounding area. It appeared that I was near the bottom of a mountain, and as any knowledgeable individual knows, first thing in long term survival is to find out what's in your immediate area. That set my destination straight up the hillside, and into the unknown. With any luck, I would find a dependable position within a few hours.

The forest was quiet, but not so quiet that it was unsettling. Just the right amount of silence to make you relax. The air that had a cool, dampness to it as well, only adding to the peacefulness. Had I not been transported here through the complex methods of bullshitery, I would've been more relaxed than I was, although, after being in a sterile space ship without gravity a week, it was nice to be walking on dirt.

My pace was rather slow as I didn't have a destination set besides uphill, and the trees were obscuring my view of what lie more than a hundred meters ahead, so it was unlikely I'd be able to plot much of a rout at all. After about fifteen minutes of walking, I crossed paths with... well... a path. Judging by the width, it couldn't have been a hiking trail of any kind, maybe a game trail, but nothing that was used frequently or recently. Nevertheless, a trail would be easier on my bare feet than untraveled dirt and debris.

"Oh my gosh." I whispered from feeling like an idiot.

Just fifty meters down the trail rested a dinky cabin, and the first thing that crossed my mind was a hunting cabin, however I quickly remember Rachel's 'cabins' and all the lives they took. My heart began beating faster as the memories of the pain-stricken screams rang throughout my head. and I began stuttering a step forward in contemplation of running away or approaching the structure. I did make a choice eventually, and whether it would end in my death or not, at least I did make a choice instead of just standing there.

Carefully, oh so carefully, I began padding up to the cabin in a slightly lowered stance, and once I was within five meters of the Wooden structure I began searching for spore mines or any other possible booby traps that she may have put around the perimeter. Not thirty seconds into my search, I heard the sound of a male voice muttering something inside the glorified outhouse, earning my abandonment of the mine search.

" _Great, I'm naked in a forest, probably being watched by Rachel, and I'm about to attack or be attacked by someone."_ I thought while making my way to the door with utmost silence. My breathing was limited, and I deliberately slowed my heart to minimize my noise signature. I couldn't tell exactly if it was just the one person or if there were more, however, it probably wouldn't even matter if it turned out to be a clone; I'd still be pummeled like a baby against their enhanced... everything.

Just as I reached for the door handle, it turned, causing me to dart behind the door as it swung outward. I was hidden visually, which is a good thing if you didn't know, but the problem was the door handle twisting caused an inadvertent release of adrenaline that rose my heart rate and forced my breathing to pick up. When the door shut and the man stepped forward, he was facing away from me, but I could still tell one thing. " _Thank God he's not a clone."_ I thought moments before the man in jeans and a leather jacket whipped around and threw a punch at my face. I suppose in my realization of him not being a lab creation, I made a noise to alert him.

Nevertheless, my training took over and I automatically deflected his right hook, gripping at the wrist immediately after. Next, I grabbed his shoulder with my right hand, and stepped my left foot forward. I then hooked my right knee into the back of his knee and heaved forward, throwing the man to the ground below me. With a loud thud, he hit the ground and I was instantly upon him. My left knee pinned his arm at the bicep, and my right leg acted as balance while I held his other arm with my own. Using my free arm, I began choking him with my full body weight pressed onto his neck.

"Now's not the time to be checking my pecker. I think you have more pressing matters, and don't you even _think_ about biting my junk!" I hissed while applying more pressure to his neck. Though the man struggled, with more strength than I would've anticipated, I held him firm to the floor as his face turned cherry red.

Then I dawned on me. I recognized this guy. "I'm going to release pressure on your neck, and you're going to tell me who sent you through the Void-Space gateway." I demanded with another Idea as to what could've transported me here. The stranger nodded in response, and I slowly released just enough pressure to return oxygen and blood to his brain. "Go on then."

"Okay." He replied with a sigh, and another glance at my junk. "I don't know about a Void-space gate thing... but I... I was sent here to stop something messing with the parallel universes, now could you get your junk away from me?" He asked with visible disdain.

Another Universe you say. Well, It wouldn't be the first time I was in another universe, however, I didn't remember what the dimensional shift looked like. It took a minute before I replied, simply out of pure deliberation whether I bought his story or not. "First, because it concerns me the most, I don't exactly have clothes, and I can't afford you breaking free, so deal with it. Second, were you that naked dude from the Void-Space gate? The-um... The giant white room." I said with growing wonder about this man.

Before the man replied, he let out an almost bored sigh. "Whatever, there are clothes in the cabin, and yeah, I guess I was the guy from the white room... I'm guessing we're here for the same reason though?. . . To stop the one screwing with the universes." He added, not really seeming to know jack shit about what he was saying… not that I knew much more than my speculations.

"Kid, I don't know where you come from, but it's a bit late for that." I replied moments before releasing the man, followed by walking into the cabin for clothes: A pillowcase would do, I just wanted something to cover my junk. First thing was to check the dresser. "You took everything BUT the underwear!" I shouted with annoyance upon opening the last drawer.

"Well I got here first, so suck it up princess, it's better than nothing!" He shouted in response.

Besides the underwear, the only thing that was left in the dinky shack was a bed with a sheet on it. Still better than underpants alone I suppose. Within about two minutes, I'd ripped a hole in one section and tied the rest into what boiled down to a dress. Not a single word came out of my mouth as I exited the cabin with a deathly glare. The stranger's response was a stifled a laugh as I continued down the path that connected to the one I came from.

"Hey where are you going?" He asked while watching me wander off.

"Somewhere else." I snipped with vexation, not bothering to tell him about the footprints I saw on the trail before me.

"Fine, beats hanging around here." I heard him grumble.

I remained silent as the man caught up to me, simply from not wanting to interact with anyone.

"Why did you end up here then?" The man inquired upon reaching my position.

I thought about it for a few seconds, debating if I should delve into how I died. He must've been sent here in a similar fashion if I saw him in the Void-space gateway, but if he didn't know what Void-space was… "How far into the stars have you traveled?" I asked.

In response, the man looked at me with slight confusion. "I never left Earth, except for here… why?"

"I mean, how far has your species explored space? And it's to help me determine something." I clarified.

"Well... I don't know, before the war we went to the moon, I guess..." He answered.

Ahh, yet another universe claimed by war. As for only reaching the moon, a typical occurrence in the multiverse, nothing that would give me something to go on. "Hmm… good to know."

I could tell be the way he looked at me that he was completely dumbfounded by my answer. "Okay... why did any of that matter? I just wanted to know where you came from."

"It's trivial. And for where I came from... it doesn't matter anymore." I replied glumly.

"Mhmmm… Don't suppose you know how to get back to our own universes?"

"Also trivial." I said just before stopping to face the stranger. "Listen, Kid. I'm sure you know a little bit about how you got here. Well let me tell you something you don't know. What sent you here isn't your friend, it will manipulate your emotions and impersonate those you love most. You may think you want to go back, but you're innocently ignorant to the world around you, and what a hell it really is." I snipped just before turning back to the large hill before me. "You're better off disappearing." I added, fully knowing what horrors could possibly lie ahead. Poor kid, probably doesn't know more than an infinitesimal portion of the full story about his travel here. Pretty hypocritical, I know. BUT, at least I knew what the Guardians really were.

What the man said next left me in wonder, wonder of how many screws were loose. With a shake of his head, he grumbled. "By the moon." Moment's later, he turned to me with a glare and odious words. "I think you can get me back home, so when I'm done you best have a way off this rock, or I'll strangle you with your bed sheet."

"… I'm very frightened, oh please don't hurt me." I sarcastically begged with trembling hands. "Why do you even think I can get you home?" I added.

"I don't know, you knew about the Void gate thing." Yep, he officially knows nothing about inter-dimensional travel.

"I do know about that, don't I... Doesn't matter, I can't make it without a specific material, and unless this universe has colon... nevermind. I probably can't make the machine. So congratulations, unless what sent you takes you back, you're stuck." I said with a forced grin.

"Hmmm, I see."

As we pressed up the steeper and steeper incline, I could see that the top was only twenty or thirty meters away, which incited me to ask a question. "So, think we're in the middle of nowhere, of there's a colony just over the mountain? I asked just before pulling myself up a five foot ledge in our path. "Personally, I think we're a few days out from civilization."

"…. I guess a small town on the other side, should be able to find some clothes there." He replied.

"And I was just starting to like the bed sheet." I said. Something crossed my mind after a few seconds of silence, prompting me to ask the man another question. "What's your name? Also, are you special in some way, it's not normal for someone to be sent to another universe?" I asked.

"Names Dexios, and the rest is trivial." He mocked. "And you?"

What a strange name, 'Dexios' perhaps it means something else in his universe. As for him saying 'it's trivial', perhaps just a joke, perhaps not. "The name's Elliot... I'm sure if we don't end up killing each other we'll share our secrets. For instance, you mumbled 'By the moon'. Either you're an idiot that thinks the moon is God, or..." I replied as I tailed off into deep thought. What if a Guardian revealed itself as a God of the moon, that would require some interesting manipulation of the mind to make that seem real. The question is, What kind of apparition would the woman call herself, and how brainwashed is this fellow if that's the case.

"Mhmm," He muttered, "Does it really matter if the moon is my 'God' or not?"

"No, not really. I just have a certain eye for the smallest of details." I replied moments before cresting the hilltop. "Well, looks like you won." I said with a gaze to a quaint little town surrounded by mountain ranges.

Before Dexios replied, I saw a shit-eating grin form on his face, probably from winning the bet. "And what about you... I mean, if it's true about being special to come here, what does that make you?" He asked.

"An ancient relic, nothing more, nothing less." I replied while looking down at my palms, remembering the day that Rachel cursed me with a power I could feel running throughout my body, but could not use.

"I see..." Dexios replied while staring at the town before us. "Wonder if they speak English…" He mumbled.

"Even if they don't, I can speak most languages known to my people and I have a knack for learning languages quickly, so if it really comes to it, I'll just kidnap someone and listen to their speech for a few days." I replied while continuing down the hunting trail.

The man was taken aback by my sentence, simply watching my descent on trail for a moment. "Do that often, kidnap people?"

"There isn't really anyone around to kidnap, so yeah... I'll let you in on a secret; I don't really don't have a value for life, it's just a statistic for me. But, I do suppose not angering whatever local security would be advantageous." I replied casually.

"I find that hard to believe that life means so little to you, life is what humans value most, even if you are just some old relic..." He said, trailing off into thought.

"Believe what you will, it doesn't matter to me."

"Fair enough. I imagine we will be parting ways in the town anyways, I have a planet to save and a world to get back to, and you... have something to hide from here evidently." Dexios said.

"It's not that I have something to hide from anymore, I simply warned you of what you should hide from. But yes, we will most likely be parting ways for the foreseeable future, I need to see how drunk I can get, and you have to ' _save the world'_." I replied while creating a grand banner with my hands.

"That does sound like a better plan, but how are you going to get drunk with no cash?" He asked.

"Duh, I'll just steal either the money, or the vodka." I said with a 'duh' hand gesture.

"Yeah, well after dealing with you all day, I think I need a drink too." He said with a sigh of longing.

"Okay, since I want to be able to go back to the bar, I'm just going to rob people. I propose a bet, whomever collects the most cash get the first round free."

"You're on." Dexios said with a smile. He probably has some kind of natural advantage over me if one of the Guardians coerced him into thinking it was God. Me, all I had was immense knowledge and zilch for morals. If I still had control over my powers, I'd be able to rob the town with my mind, hell, I could bring hell down on them if I had control anymore.

My plan was simple, first knock someone out and take their clothes. Second, find someone of wealthy appearance and force them to withdraw money from an Automatic Teller Machine. The risk would be increased from a simple mugging, but the payout would be massively higher if I pulled it off. Then again, I could also find some well off home and threaten the family into getting me the money, then just bury them in an eight foot hole, head first. " _Ehh, I'll decide when that comes around. I need clothes either way."_ I thought while looking at my bed sheet.

"Ground rules; When the sun sets under that mountain-" I said while pointing to a two pronged peak. "We stop and reconvene at that tall building with the sword. Other than that, anything goes." I said while pointing to a building with a sword sticking out of a single spire.

"Works for me." Dexios said with a nod.

"Very well. See you in… three hours." I said while holding out my hand to the sun and horizon to determine the sunset.

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 **A/N: Let me know if you like the idea of a shared universe, and be sure to check out Dexios' version of the story, it was quite humorous in my opinion.**


	2. Chapter 2: Distracted

**_Authors Note: The song I have in this chapter is called 'Chant of Mirth' if you want to pre-load it._**

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 _Chapter Two: Distracted_

 _By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination._

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With that, Dexios immediately started sprinting down the mountainside, disappearing in about twenty seconds flat. " _living in the moment I see."_ I thought. On the contrary, I started down the mountain at a leisurely pace, and continued to think on how I was going to win our bet. I also thought about what powers Dexios might have.

"I'm an _idiot_. _Dexiós ánthropos,_ as in 'Right hand man'. That bitch knows greek." I squawked just before darting off the trail to find his footprints. How I missed that until now was completely ridiculous. "I'm fluent in six languages and I missed a word from my second language!" I hissed to myself, making me wonder how alike we really were.

I was following Dexios' footsteps through the forest in an attempt to catching up with him, however, after only a few meters of running down the tail, I found myself at a loss for words. His footsteps were replaced by paw prints; One step it was a footprint, and the next it was a canine's print. "What?" I questioned while kneeling to the indentation on the soft soil. "Now's not the time to think about that." I added before continuing after the paw prints.

By the time I reached the valley where the town was located, an hour passed and I still didn't have clothes. The paw prints also led all the way to the town, though I diverged from their path in searches for a victim. Then, another idea crossed my mind. The chances of an Elliot Crawford in this world were rather high. That being said, I probably had a bank account here.

"Sir? Are you alright?" A waitress asked as she poked her head out of a diner across the street labeled ' _Dennys_ '.

Well… I suppose now's as good a time as any. "I… our expedition." I said with a desolate gaze to where I emerged from a few minutes ago.

"Oh my gosh. MARIA, get the sheriff!" The woman shouted into the restaurant just before darting across the street. "Sir, You're going to be okay. Let's get you some food." She said while helping me across the asphalt street. I was in perfectly fine condition, but this was an easy way to get food, clothes, and information on where I was, so I played along.

I kept my gaze distant as if what I'd seen destroyed my mind; It wasn't really far from the truth, however, the location in which this transpired was not the forest. The unidentified woman in a black apron sat me down at an empty booth with a glass of water that I downed like a fish; Hiking for three hours without water can do that to someone. I was then served an assortment of eggs, sausage links, toast, hash-browns and pancakes.

"I-I don't have money to pay for this." I said while looking down at the delectable meal.

"Don't worry about that." The waitress replied with a smile and a hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you." I expressed before the waitress wandered off, leaving me to my meal. By the time I'd finished off the eggs, sausage links, and hash-browns, the local Sheriff arrived with a full outfit of clothing.

"I heard you're the mystery man that came wandering out of the woods. Go put these on in the bathroom, and I'll keep your food here." He said while sitting across from me.

"No, I can't take these. I just need to go to a bank, and I'll get some money to buy my own." I replied.

"Nonsense, you've been through enough." The sheriff said as he pushed the clothing towards me.

"A-Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly. I was actually starting to feel bad for these people. Here I was about to rob them blind, and some random lady notices me walking down the street, gives me food, and the sheriff gives me clothing; Maybe this universe has a really high moral compass.

"There's just one condition, I need to scan your handprint." He added while pulling out a small rectangular device of black hue.

" _Nevermind the morals, this universe sucks already."_ I thought while holding out my hand. Once the scanner did its thing, the Sheriff's eyes widened a little.

"Sir, do you know your name?"

"Elliot." I answered, gaining most of the restaurant's attention, and by 'most', I mean _everyone_ stopped what they were doing to stare at me with deathly silence.

"… Well, everything seems to be in order Mister Crawford." The man said with a smile. "Go on ahead and change into those clothes."

"What did you see on that scanner?" I inquired with suspicion.

"Nothing to worry about, It's just not every day I meet a biologist working for the military."

"... _Okay_ then." I replied as I grabbed the clothing.

* * *

After donning the clothing in the handicap stall of the restrooms, I looked over myself in the mirror. Shiny black boots, olive drab green pants, and a dark tan T-shirt. At first, I seriously considered the possibility of it being a uniform since it closely resembled the sheriff's outfit, however, on closer inspection I found this not to be the case. Instead, I found something far more muddling, yet joy inducing at the same time.

Inside my left breast pocket rested a graphite black wedding band, the same band I gave my wife. Going even further, the right pocket contained my white wedding ring. "I don't understand." I said while looking at both rings, one in each hand. The more I looked at the two circular pieces of technology, the further I went into the depths of focus and contemplation. There was only one way to truly test if these were the rings from my universe, and with that, I split the graphite ring into its two halves. I then put one of the halves on my ring finger, followed by the white ring, then the other half of the graphite ring.

All three locked together as one larger ring on my finger, and upon independent rotation of the center ring, the outer graphite ring pieces began glowing a red pattern on their surface. With a bit more rotation, the white ring began glowing a bright blue pattern that matched up to the red one perfectly. On one particular part of the pattern there was an orange circle that crossed over all three ring pieces with the pattern linking up to it.

"It really is our rings." I said while moving the apparatus to my middle finger. When I held out my arm in a fist, the red and blue glow intensified as a spooling whine emanated from the ring. "Hahahaha, wait until Dexios sees this." I gleefully remarked before my body was temporarily enveloped in a blue field, which indicated the activation of the six megajoule per second, Close In Protection System.

The sheriff was still sitting right where he was when I left, only this time, I was not looking at him with a distant stare, more of a pissed off questioning look. "Where did you find these?" I whispered with a display of the dimly glowing bands, which only earned an amused smirk from the man.

"Well, you could call me a multitude of things, but let's go with a messenger. You wanted them back, and the one who brought you here felt pity." The man answered with what seemed like honesty.

"… What does it want?" I interrogated quietly.

"Well, unlike in your world, ours is not on the brink of destruction… yet. She would like you to save this world from itself."

"Ohh I'll save it alright, I'll save the shit out of it. Just point me to the Monolith Network."

"Well, clearly you're not going to help us for now." The sheriff said as he stood from the booth, which I mimicked. He then put a twenty on the table and motioned for me to follow him outside. Once we were outside, he continued talking. "I understand why you don't want to help us, especially after what Rachel did to you and your people, but we're different."

"Sure you are." I scoffed. "Look, I thank you for these rings, but they shouldn't have brought me here to begin with. Do you know where I was?" I asked as we walked down the street.

"Yes, I'm aware that you were orbiting a black hole. Anyway, once you realize that they're not like the Guardians from your universe, I will greet you again." The sheriff said before wandering off into an ally.

"I'll hold you to it." I said as I gazed down to the glowing rings on my left hand.

I began jogging down the street in searches for an ATM of some kind, however, by the time I traveled to one end of the small town, I'd only found our rendezvous point. "Norbert of Xanten Catholic church… Oh, it's a cross, not a sword." I sussed after reading the sign out front. With a gaze at the sun's position, I realized about an hour remained in our bet to steal the most money. "Oh well, I guess I lost." I said while padding into the peaceful church.

The whole auditorium style building was filled with row after row of pews, stained glass depictions of people, and at the front there was an altar with a man nailed to a cross. "I guess that's God?"

"No, that's his son, Jesus." A man in black robes with a white collar slip said from my left.

"Ahh, okay." I with a quick glance to the man before I turned back to the statue.

"You must be that stranger that wandered out of the forest a few hours ago. What troubles you my child?" The older man with graying hair asked.

"Well, I don't just give out my secrets to a stranger. The name's Elliot Crawford." I asked while extending my hand.

"Father Wesley… You said your name is Elliot, I have something for you." The man said as he wandered towards the podium, pulling out a stack of money from within it.

"Whoa there. You don't need to be giving me any money. I have a bank account, but i just can't find the bank around here." I said while holding out my hands.

"This is not my money. It came in a dream that a man would fall from a burning spaceship. The Lord told me to give this to you. Please, please take it."

"Listen, I didn't come from a spaceship. I-"

"Elliot Crawford, born in the year three-thousand three-hundred, sent into the Federations navy at the age of one year old." Wesley said in a deadpan while holding out the money.

"Uhh…. Okaayyyyy." I replied with bewilderment as I accepted the cash. "How do you know that?"

"The lord divined it to me, my son. Now please, tell me what troubles you." He said with a gesture to a closet like room with two doors.

"Uhh, sorry. I don't do confined spaces." I replied.

"Elliot, no one is going to hurt you here." As Father Wesley finished his sentence, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then his eyes opened, revealing the whites of his eyes to be completely black, the brown of his iris turned to a dark yellow, and completely dilated pupils.

"Fiddlesticks." I whispered just before sprinting for the door, only to have my body lifted off the ground and pulled back to what remained of the man. "What do you want from me?" I asked fearfully as my body floated weightlessly in the air.

"I'm not the Zofia you are accustomed to, Galactic Tracker. I'm from this universe, and I'm far different than the one from yours. Besides, all that business was your fault, all you had to do was follow orders." The shell of a man replied. "As for what I want, right now I'd like to offer you a deal… _We'd_ like to offer you a deal."

"I just want you out of my life!" I screamed with a trembling voice.

"Please give us a chance." Wesley implored as he lowered his extended arm, placing me on the red carpet below.

"None of you deserve a chance, you killed your creators." I retorted in a low tone.

"We didn't do that in our universe." He said with a step forward, resulting in me taking two fearful steps backward. Before I knew it, there were two sets of female hands on my shoulders, causing a fearful jump on my part. I knew resisting was futile, it really was in this case, but that didn't stop me from squirming and thrashing about wildly in an attempt to escape.

That plan lasted an all of about five seconds before my body went entirely numb. "Please don't hurt me." I whimpered as memories of my soldiers being taken away in similar manner flashed into my mind. I found no reply as my body was dragged down the chapel aisle by the two women.

My mind was rapidly diving into the depths of panic mode, and I was completely losing it as I blubbered incoherent sentences. Eventually, those too were removed from my scope of bodily control, and I was forced to silently watch a hypodermic needle that reflected the sun to cliche levels brought to my eye and forced into the depths of my brain. I tried so hard to scream out in pain as they pushed the plunger down, but I simply couldn't, I was just a passenger in my own body. When the syringe was pulled away, there wasn't a speck of blood on it, though my head still burned from whatever liquid was inserted.

" _I'm going to kill all of you."_ I thought as my body started taking my commands again.

"There, that wasn't so bad now was it. Now, onto our deal." Father Wesley said as his body started emitting burning embers, which eventually burned his body away into a figure of a woman with brown hair and eyes to match. Just like in my universe, she wore a White toga with a diagonal red stripe.

As If on cue, the other two women started to shift into another person, although they transformed in a ripple instead of fiery embers. The woman to the left had black hair, green eyes, and she wore a white toga with a blue stripe. The woman on the right donned a white toga with a green stripe, had midnight blue hair running all the way to her waist, and icy blue eyes.

"Do you recognize us?" The one on the right asked.

"Really? You think I'd forget your faces after what you did?" I asked incredulously. "You're Maroth." I answered while looking to the woman with black hair and a blue toga stripe. "You're Zofia." I said with a nod at the woman with red striped apparel and brown eyes. "And you're Clara." I finished as I looked at the woman with midnight blue hair and a green striped outfit.

"Well, two out of three isn't that bad. I look like the Zofia from your universe, but I'm Rachel. Another difference from your universe is we're the only Guardians that survived, the others died in the long sleep… I'm sorry about the shot, I just needed to install a genetic inhibitor." She added while dematerializing the syringe gun.

In a split second after hearing that, I raised my left arm out in a fist, and my combined wedding rings fired an orange beam of charged particles into Clara with a very loud pulse of energy, sending her stumbling into a front row pew. Before I had a chance to rake the beam of energy towards Rachel or Maroth, My arm was pinned in place and the ring was deactivated.

"… Why do you hate us? We've done nothing to you besides save your life, and I suppose inject the inhibitor. But still, it's not fair to hate us for something your universes versions did to you." Rachel groused while pointing an accusing finger at me.

"You killed my family, you killed my species, and I will never forgive you. When you pinned me to the floor I realized you're no different than the one's I stopped… You best kill me now, because I'll destroy every last one of you in time." I hissed in anger.

"WE'RE NOT THEM YOU STUPID HUMAN!" She shouted with a slap to my cheek; Judging from the large gash it produced in my cheek, I think they forgot how fragile human bodies were.. "... I'm-I'm sorry; You're just so _frustrating_." Rachel added as she caressed my cheek with the back of her hand, which in turn caused particles of glowing white light to swarm the gash. In a matter of seconds, the white particles transformed into the appropriate cells, and my injury was no more.

"I gave you your wedding rings back, doesn't that mean anything to you? . . . No, it doesn't, because all you're thinking about is how your species was killed by the doppelganger of me." Rachel galled before sitting next to my limp body on the stairs leading to the alter. "If I bring your wife here, your _real_ wife, will you give me a chance?" She asked as the other two guardians sat down on one of the bench seats in the left row.

"I… Only if it's really her."

"Deal." Rachel replied as a swirling vortex of water mimicking liquid appeared in front of us. After a few seconds, my wife was propelled from the spiral of liquid, completely naked and soaking wet. " _Of all the moments, why did they pick when she was in the shower?"_ I wondered as the love of my life slung the water from her spotted fur.

 **{Chant of Mirth}**

"Elliot, what's going on? You just left an hour ago." She asked with a glance to the women sitting on the bench, then to Rachel. "YOU!" She roared before raking her claws across the Guardians face, which did nothing but earn an unamused eyebrow raising.

"I'm from another universe, Miss Crawford." Rachel deadpanned just before vanishing into thin air. Another glance at the Guardians left me realizing they all left the building.

"Jacqueline, let it be." I said at the sight of her tail completely poofed out from anger.

"Elliot, what happened to you? You just left an hour ago." She asked with worry.

"Jacquline, I've been gone for three-thousand years." I explained while wrapping my arms around the damp feline without a care in the world. "... Everyone is dead now." I mumbled into her damp shoulder.

"... It's going to be okay, Elliot." She reassuringly whispered while gently raking her claws through my hair.

"It's not okay, Jacqueline. Everyone's dead, and no one rescued me, and now I'm in another universe for some stupid reason with someone that doesn't exist in our timeline... I don't know what to do." I opposed, causing the snow leopard to grab me by the cheeks, forcing my gaze into her cobalt blue eyes.

"You always find a way to come back to us, and I know that's what you'll do no matter what. I'm sure you can figure out time travel." She sternly proclaimed before planting a kiss on my lips. "So come back home to me, no matter how long it takes."

"I… I can't build a time machine. I didn't even build the Quirium gateway by myself, so how am I supposed to get from this universe to ours, and travel back in time?" I asked with emptiness.

Jacqueline seemed at odds with my statement, and I could see her trying to come up with another idea, but it didn't seem like one was coming. "If you could just-"

"Jacqueline… I'm not smart enough." I interrupted with dejection.

"If you would've let me finish; Have _them_ send you back." She suggested with a gesture to the empty room.

"WHAT!?" I squawked in return. "After everything they did to us, how could you even think of something like that?"

"I don't want to lose you, and besides; Different universe, different Guardians... Oh, which one's are alive here?" She inquired.

"Why does that-nevermind; Lunovian, Raxxlan, and the Leader." I replied as her idea clicked into my mind, prompting Jacquline to silently nod for a few seconds.

"Vele uzibulale uma ubuya; Ngeke bazi ngisho nokuthi ungubani." She proposed in Miacke as to keep the Guardians unaware of the idea, however, with the limited tutoring I gave her, it didn't come out quite right.

" _Now why would I kill myself when I get back?"_ I asked in Miacke with a goofy smirk.

"You know what I mean, you obnoxious human." Jacqueline simpered as she attempted shove my shoulder, only ending with me stepping out of the way, and pulling the feline's fuzzy back to my chest.

"You're stuck with me, obnoxiousness and all." I whispered as our fingers intertwined on her stomach.

"Elliot… You weren't kidding about the time." She awed while lifting my left hand into view, which showed the two combined wedding rings on my finger in addition to the exact copy of the Graphite ring on Jacqueline's finger.

"Can we not talk about that; I don't know how long you can stay." I replied with my chin rested on her left shoulder.

"But, this is so cool; What if I were to scratch mine? Would it make a scratch on yours just like in the Tv shows?"

"First, there's not a chance you could scratch that ring, Darling; But if you did manage to scratch it, mine wouldn't change until you go back."

"How does that work?" Jacqueline Inquired.

"Gatáki, you know that it's beyond your scope of knowledge." I answered with benevolence.

"But, I'm sure I could understand some of it." She said with persistence.

"Jacqueline! I'm about to maybe lose you forever, and you keep trying to spend our time on something that I couldn't possibly explain in a way that you would understand." I shouted with frustration as I began pacing back and forth to prevent more tears from coming out.

"I KNOW!" She screamed in return. "I just don't want this to end, and if I ke-keep talking, maybe it won't end." She added with a snobbery sniffle.

"... Come here." I murmured with outstretched arms. Once she was resting her head in the crook of my neck, I started to scratch her ears with one of my hands.

"It's like the war all over again; You dying, and me crying over your dead body. Because you are dead, aren't you?" She asked with more sniffles.

"I'm not dead, Gatáki. . . You are." I whispered with heartache. For the next hour we stood in each others arm, simply attempting to make what was destined to end, last forever. We swayed to the sound of our own humming, and prayed that it wouldn't end. I didn't want to give her up, and I certainly didn't want to let her go through the portal.

The thought of me dancing with my wife, who's been dead for hundreds of lifetimes put more tears into my eyes; The instant she walked through would bring her back in time, and because my time is the present, she would instantly live out her entire life without me. My daughter would suffer the same fate, and my unborn son would never even see his father.

"I love you… so much." I whispered with a tearful stare into Jacqueline's eyes as I saw her fur starting to disintegrate.

"What is it, Elliot?"

"... You have to go now…"

"But. . . I love you too." She replied languidly with a peck to my forehead. Instead of her departing through a gateway like her entrance, Jacqueline simply froze in place with a gentle smile on her face as she slowly turned to dust. I tried to stay on the positive side, but watching one of the people I loved most disintegrate in my arms broke me; She was one of the only things that kept me sane in this world, and frankly, watching her die gave me a goal and one goal alone… find a way back to her, no matter the cost.

I felt like every emotion in my body was on overload as I collapsed to my knees; Anger, sadness, confusion, and all of it was directed towards the one's responsible, the Guardians. Jacqueline's idea of having the Guardians send me back in time as payment for helping them was a good one in my eyes, but my mind kept reminding me of how I was manipulated into the most dangerous pawn of history, and how all of it was one lie after another to coerce me towards their plan for immortality. I suppose that's where the second part of Jacqueline's plan came into play… Kill them all.

"I saw everything… I'm sorry, if that helps." The Guardian Clara murmured as as I buried my head into my knees where Jacqueline's silty remains lay. "I know you thought I was one of the only one's in your world to have good inside, so I thought maybe we could be friends?"

"This is not the time." I seethed with a hiccup in my crying.

"... Sorry."

"Have you decided yet?" Rachel asked after appearing in a cloud of burning embers on the pew behind me me.

" _C'mon Rachel, give him some time."_ Clara groused in their universal language, supposedly to keep me from understanding.

" _Frankly, I don't care if he misses her; We're on the brink of total war, and every minute counts."_ She replied, causing me to whip around.

"You just lost any bit of help I was going to give you." I said with suppressed malice for her blatant disregard of my emotions. "But you; I'll give you a chance…" I added with another one-eighty to face Clara. "Since one of you cares I'm hurting." I fumed with a hateful glare back at Rachel. It wasn't like I was really going to give any of them a chance, but Clara was the most likely one I would befriend, so I figured they would be more likely to believe me acting kindly towards her.

"You don't decide who you give chances to, Crawford. I saved your life." Rachel snipped in return, eventing in my slowly standing up and turning to face her, followed by putting my ring right up to my chin as it spooled up for a shot.

"Really now, because _you_ are about to have a mindless body if you don't _FUCK... OFF."_ I shouted, which caused her to immediately disappear in the customary cloud of embers with a surprised expression plastered across that stupid face of hers.

"I guess you want me to go too?" Clara asked quietly.

"No, you don't have to." I replied while walking across the room to distance myself from Jacqueline's remains. I paced around, and sat, moping the entire way, however, the time came that I realized I needed to start conning the Guardians into sending me back in time; Of course, that question would have to wait for later, it was far to ambitious to ask now.

"Could you remove the inhibitor Rachel injected?" I asked Clara; If I was going to fool a Guardian, I would have to be flawless in my execution. Of course, that would mean asking things that I knew I wouldn't get in just the right order until they gave me what I truly wanted.

"I-um… No, not yet; But thank you for giving me a chance." She answered with gratefulness. "I-I have to go, Dexios is almost here… Um… If you need me, just call, o-or ya-know, say my name." She stammered with a meek smile.

"Wait, why is he here? I know he hasn't told me much about himself, but I don't need his help to save one planet." I asked as she started rippling into oblivion.

"You must ask Luna that question, she brought him here, not us." Clara replied as the last bits of ripples dissipated, sending the church into silence once more.

"Who?" I pondered, never having heard of a Guardian named that. Hearing the unknown name brought me into complete analytics mode, and within seconds, all remaining emotional thought was put on hold. That name was defiantly related to Dexios saying 'by the moon', and if this 'Luna' is responsible for bringing him here, she must have a massive amount of power, or at least be using someone else's power much in the way I once did.

"It must be a Guardian, or maybe a Guardians messenger like the sheriff." I rationalized while pacing up and down the aisle. The next thing I heard besides the soft sound of my footsteps on the brown carpet was the main door opening with a creak. Just as Clara told me, Dexios came walking through with the biggest, most smug grin on his face.

"How did you fare?"

"I-uh, got distracted… Only made five-hundred." I replied. While it was a disappointing that I didn't make the money I wanted, I couldn't care less about money or that stupid bet right now for obvious reasons.

Dexios stuck his hands in his pockets before he said, "I guess I win, the first round's on you; I managed to get around fifteen hundred." I suppose his hand pocketing was something he thought to be slick? It just made him vulnerable to attack in my eyes. Besides that, I wasn't even sure I would've been able to produce that much in a few hours, meaning he probably did something I couldn't.

"Did you use your powers?" I asked with squinting suspicion as we walked to the door of the church. I was right to question him, because his rather audible gulp combined with his general disquiet told me everything.

"If sleight of hand is a power, then yeah, sure did."

" _Sleight of hand my ass..._ Mhmm, that was believable." I replied while opening the oak door with another creak. "So, what's your real name anyway?" I queried after stepping outside with the man in question. In the time I'd spent inside, the sun fully disappeared under the mountain ranges, giving the entire town a dark, yet beautiful glow of oranges and yellows across the sky. It was something that I never had the chance to appreciate anymore, though this time around I made sure to take a few seconds to look up and see the magnificent glow of light reflecting and refracting off clouds and atmosphere.

"My name is Dexios, and what about you? How did you get your cash? Did you kidnap someone?" He asked with an ever so slight sharpness laced into his voice.

" _Seriously, Dude; We both know that's not your name, so why hide it from me; I'll just find out myself eventually."_ I thought with dull annoyance to his untruthfulness. "Uhh, no, I did not kidnap someone; That was the original plan though." I confirmed. "Your name is _not_ Dexios, and I know that because I speak most languages in my world. Dexios means 'Right hand man' in one of those languages, leading me to believe your ' _Luna'_ gave you the name… Care to comment?" I asked with a smug grin.

Dexios froze in place at my utterance, and his face turned completely white. "How do you know that name!?" He demanded. "How do you know Luna!?"

So, Clara was telling the truth when it came to how Dexios was sent here. The questions remaining were who and how powerful was she. "Ooooh, struck a nerve therreeee." I said in a falsetto as I completely disregarded his outburst as an empty threat; The hateful glare I received gave me the inclination that I may have chosen the wrong avenue of linguistics.

"Either Luna sent you here to help me or… You're the one she sent me here to kill. Tell me human, which one is it?" He asked acerbically.

Being threatened by him didn't phase me in the slightest, mainly because he was a simple pleb in the grand scheme of things. What caught me as out of the ordinary was his mentioning of me as 'human' like he was somehow a different species than me. It was possible he thought me to be an ordinary human, whereas he possessed triple bonds. But with that amount of DNA present, he would've been able to detect my abnormal strain from a mile away. So that meant he was something far below my power, but different than the normal strain of human DNA.

"Ehh, you could be here to kill me, but that might prove tougher than it looks. As far as Luna sending me, maybe, maybe not." I said in an attempt to further aggravate him. I even turned down a dark alleyway peppered with trash and other varieties of grime to give him ample opportunity to use his powers on me. Hopefully, my C.I.P.S would protect me from whatever he possessed.

In an instant, I found myself being pressed up against the wall. ' _So he does have more than than three brain cells.'_ I thought as my vision focused in on the attacker. What off-put me was that a Raxxlan wolf was attacking me, not Dexios. I suppose my daze gave him time to wrap his jaws around my neck with enough force to not only cause blue shield ripples all over my upper body and across my face, but the wolf's jaws pressed down so hard that it pushed the shield right into my neck, cutting off my air.

Suffice to say, I was surprised.

I didn't want to kill him, but I didn't plan on dying today, and with that in mind, I reached to my combined rings and adjusted the high amplitude, linear focused diode to a low amplitude, wide focus so that I didn't burn a hole straight through the target.

In the time it took me to adjust the weapon, my enemy's jaws pressed further into my neck, and I felt my skin break under the pressure of sharp fangs though an antimatter and charged particle shield. Nevertheless, the notion that my vision was loosing color hastened the action of me shoving my left fist into his solar plexus, followed by firing a short burst of direct energy into my enemy. It defiantly did the trick, the sound the Raxxlan produced was evidence enough, though it still took me a few more seconds to pry his jaws off my neck.

I was also sure that I was going to collapse from the pressure induced on my neck because of how much it hurt to breath. Just to make sure I wasn't the only one going down, I fired another burst of the ring's particle beam into his chest, causing an orange, conical pulse of energy to impact the entirety of his chest. Even with the low intensity shot I used, my ring still singed off all fur on the wolf's chest in addition to giving him second degree thermal radiation burns, presumably all the way through the dermis.

' _Ugh, that smell."_ I internally cringed as the scent of burning hair wafted into my nose. " _Good try, Daurilian._ " I coughed out in the Raxxlan language as I felt my wounds. "Where did Dexios go?" I added with a glance down both directions of the ally, finding no sign of the man in question.

Now was not the time to be thinking on a man that disappeared, so I readjusted the diode to fire a more condensed beam of energy, reducing the cone by half. When I returned my gaze to the wolf, I was puzzled to find he had no clothes whatsoever. " _Why did you attack me? And why don't you have clothes?_ " I questioned as my rings spooled up for another shot.

"Whoa, easy. What are you babbling about?" The wolf asked in English as we both propped ourselves against adjacent ally walls.

"What am I babbling about?" I asked with surprise. "Since when did Daurilians learn English?" I asked while further tuning my ring's focusing lens. It was possible that the alien learned our language, but the chances of that happening were quite slim by my calculations.

"What are you talking about? Daurilians? I've always spoken English." He replied in confusion.

So the wolf didn't even know what Raxxla was… meaning he didn't have a ship. "If you were born on this planet, you're no use to me for getting home, and I can't let anyone know of my technology." I explained as I adjusted the ring to fire a medium intensity, linear focused beam into the castaway; In one flick of my wrist, he would be cut right in two, not the worst way to go, definitely not the best either.

As I held out my hand in preparation to end the wolf's life, the ring started to spool from a low to high pitch whine along with the entire outer surface glowing both bright blue in the center and red on the outer halves of the combined ring.

"Wait, Elliot; It's me, Dexios." He stated while standing up. Before my mind had a chance to piece things together, all the remaining fur on the wolf was drawn into its skin, and the structure of a wolf changed into the structure of a human, all within the span of a single second.

"That's... different." I commented as my mind dove into thought on how he did it. I didn't care at all the he attacked me anymore, that was the plan after all.

No, I was much more concerned with how Dexios achieved transmogrification. Morphing into a wolf was nigh impossible, I even contemplated the possibility of permanently shifting myself into a Leopard with nanotechnology before I was brought here. But to do it with such speed and without disorienting side effects… "That's your power, isn't it?" I questioned after a few seconds. There was no way shape shifting could be all he was capable of if he was a Galactic tracker, but if all he did was protect Earth, I suppose it was a reasonable assumption.

Through the entire ordeal, I never once let my left arm drop due to my slumped over state against the brick wall. I still felt my neck was bleeding, and to make things worse, I found it hard to breath. Not hard enough to leave me gasping like at first, but enough to be noticeable from, say, one Dexios standing across the alley; He didn't even seem all that phased by the damage I inflicted.

"Yeah, that's my power, and you shoot laser bolts out of your fists?" He retorted while leaning against the wall in pain.

"I do no such thing!" I squawked in return. " _At least not anymore."_ I added in thought. Well, it really wasn't my fists, more of my palms, but whatever.

Dexios simply lifted his gray shirt and looked down to his charred chest. "Right, and this is a bruise."

"I never said I didn't shoot a laser at you; I just said it didn't come out of my hand… It's this ring." I said with a tilt of my hand to better reveal the lowly glowing weapon.

"I see." He replied with a glance to the ring, then back to his chest. "I think you still owe me a drink."

"For the bet, or the injury? Because I'd say we're even on the injury department." I remarked while feeling at my neck. "Oh, and I realize you might not know it, but I just hit you with the energy present in a lightning strike. So how are you not at least unconscious from the pain? And now that I think about it, how did you get clothes again?" I asked while clambering to my feet with the assistance of the brick wall behind me.

"For the bet… And I've been through worse. As for my clothes, do you know of quantum superposition?" He asked with a pause. "How did I not rip your throat clean out?"

" _Do I know about quantum mechanics? You've got to be kidding me."_ I thought boastfully. "Ha-ha, yes, I'm aware of Quantum Superposition… You run on Quantum Superposition!" I concluded with excitement. If I could manipulate that power into making my genetic inhibitor simply cease to exist, I could go home today… well, probably next week, but still. "I've _never_ been able to make a living thing as big as you stay in a quantum superposed state with stability before!" I added before going into an injury induced coughing fit.

"...Yeah, pretty much." He responded.

"Oh, man. I need to take some genetic samples; You could be the key to… _a project_." I declared with a raspy voice, just barely catching myself from revealing my idea.

"Um…. Maybe?" Dexios replied warily.

"It's not going to kill you. I just need a few ounces of blood. Besides, I don't have an AFM right now, so it would be pointless to get it until then…... Now what? We were going to go drinking, but then you tried to murder me, sooo." Getting him to attack me was the idea, but hearing Dexios say 'How did I not rip your throat clean out?' put me a bit on on edge, especially now that I had someone to fight for.

"Hey, you're the one that provoked a wolf. Besides, you tried to kill me when we first met, so we're even." He snipped in return. I attacked him? Technically, I was going to kill him when we met, but he threw the first punch, so that hardly puts us at even. "And no, you can't have my blood. So let's go drink till I heal, because this fucking hurts." He added with a gesture to the thermal radiation burn.

It took me awhile to respond due to the thought of him saying 'until I heal', and by the time I replied, I was absentmindedly staring at my palms. "I suppose you're right, but I can't believe you actually boiled over in such a short period. Three remarks was all it took." I said while holding up the specified number of digits. "You should work on that, it would make you more efficient at your job… Honestly, all I know about your Luna is it's name. I have some theories, but beyond that… nothing." I replied while stemming the oozing wounds on my neck with my fingers.

"Stranger shows up from another world, knows that Luna sent me, and dodges the question about how he knew of her… Kind of makes you seem like a threat… Being mysterious and smug is hazardous to your health… You should work on that." He retorted before pushing himself off the adjacent wall.

"Where I'm from, being mysterious and dodging questions is part of my job description. Once you've been doing something for three-hun… for awhile, you don't break the cycle." _Well, there goes that secret. "_ Partially, it's to protect those around me from what I've dealt with." I explained as I pushed myself off the wall. "Also, if I acted how I feel, I wouldn't get anything done. Smugness hides it… There's something I don't share easily, so keep it a secret, would ya?" I asked. Why I was telling him all this, fuck if I know. Maybe I really give so little about my secrets nowadays it doesn't matter. Maybe it's because I basically broadcasted every detail of my life to whatever bit's of the galaxy was left… Yeah, that probably had something to do with it.

"Really? You just found out I'm a werewolf, and you're worried about me spilling the beans that you have feelings?" He questioned cynically. I don't know about 'werewolf', I'd go more along the lines of 'Quantum soldier', it sounds more science-ey. "I'm more interested about the three-hundred year long job." He said with a gaze shift towards me. "Normal humans don't live that long where I'm from, so what are you?"

I was a lot of things in life, so the question is, 'What does he want to know, and what does he need to know?'. That was a very fine line that I intended to cross... for some reason. "Right… have you seen your DNA since you became a _werewolf_?" I asked. "Depending on your answer, I may tell you how I've lived this long."

"No… That was the last thing on my mind since it happened." He replied in a tone that sounded half truthful and half sarcastic, leading me to give the following explanation.

"Well… It's most likely had some alterations, certain proteins have probably been replaced. I used to be like that, TECHNICALLY I still am." I said with another adjustment of my ring's output amplitude so that I could etch directly into the brick wall behind me. "This is the best part." I said with a pause. Was it really the 'best' part? Maybe the most interesting, but the 'best' was probably too strong of a word in this instance. "Do you have other powers? Because before my rebellion, my abilities were limited to keep me under their control."

"Other powers?" Dexios said with a shake of his head. "Not that I know of. Why? Do you have powers?" He wondered while watching me etch the depiction.

I wasn't too sure on how to answer him. I had powers, but they were blocked after the specter incident, and by whatever Rachel shoved into my eye. "Uhh… No, I don't have powers anymore… _You_ probably have other quantum properties no one's taught you, or wishes for you to know. Anyway, this is my DNA." I said with a step back so Dexios could see. "An Impossible bond of chemicals that produce one thing… absolute destruction." I said with a gesture to the etched, triple bonded DNA. " _Well, that wasn't entirely truthful... Whatever; As long as it keeps him wary of having Triple helix DNA."_ I thought with a few steps to my right so I could start another portrait..

Dexios pondered what a said for a good moment, and I was hopeful he would understand why this is a curse, not a blessing. "Hmmm… Absolute destruction sounds like a great thing to have."

" _You IMBECILE!"_ I screamed internally. "It's a curse. NEVER wish for something like that!" I screeched. "Because of my p-power, my people went extinct… and my wife died." I whispered. "I… I tried to save them…" I added with a pause in my drawing. Seeing my wife turn to dust right in front of me was just twisting the knife.

" _Genetic plague that mutates by the hour. Naahhhh, don't worry about it. It'll be easy to find a cure."_ I thought in anger.

"It was sarcasm." He said with an uneasy scratch to the back of his neck. "Sounds like I'm not the only one that lost everything."

" _Oh, you lost everything. Congratulations, just let me know when a fricken planet decides to hyperspace jump all over the galaxy, imploding hundreds of inhabited star systems with singularities as it goes; Then I might actually give a shit about your insignificant speck of a planet."_

"My curse, or fate, caused the extinction of both humans and werewolves. Soon, I will be the last of both on my world… Doesn't help that I lead the battle that sealed their fate." Dexios said with guilt. It still didn't even scratch the loss that I witnessed.

People die all the time, people _don't_ watch their skin fall off as they puke up their insides, simply begging you to end their life. When in reality, you have to tell them, ' _Sorry, I can't waste the bullet, they're too valuable right now, and regulations say mercy killing isn't acceptable via bladed weapon... Oh, painkillers? Sorry, we have to save those for people that actually have a chance at living, so hope you die soon.'_ I ranted in my own brain; The only thing that kept me from blowing out the entire building with my ring was an intermittent squeezing and release of my clenched fists.

"I think I'm going to need that drink sooner rather than later. Can you write this-" He said with a gesture to my uncompleted drawing. "On a napkin or something in the bar?" Dexios asked.

I think the pure hatred boiling up in my mind completely garbled what Dexios really said, because in hindsight, my reply made absolutely no sense whatsoever. "I'm a reconnaissance officer, I'll remember it."

"Cool, you were in the army; I worked retail. Now that we have that summed up, I'm going to drink until I forget today happened." He replied.

"Navy Admiral in charge of over half the HDF fleet." I corrected absentmindedly. "I wish I could forget… TO THE BAR!" I shouted in an attempt to keep myself composed. If I were to lose it, people would definitely die, and when the red haze of my anger lifted, I'd simply shrug my shoulders and say 'oops, my bad'.

"I almost forgot something." I said while jogging to one end of the ally, followed by pressing my ring up to the brick building in juxtapose with the ally wall. I didn't really forget anything, I just didn't want to kill Dexios, and destroying a building would help with that. "You may want to move." I added with a head nod away from the building.

Dexios must've been in his own world just as I was, because the reaction he gave me was delayed for a good five seconds. "Amen, Sailor." He said with a salute; What did a ' _sailor'_ mean anyway? "Wait, WHAT!?" Dexios screeched with a step away from both me and the brick building.

"No, like… Clear the ally." I said as my ring began glowing bright blue and red. He immediately darted for the streets, a comical action considering he thought I would bury him alive if he didn't move with haste… maybe I would now that I'm thinking about it... Then I saw the poster.

* * *

 **A/N: I am SOOOOOOO sorry for taking this long... anyway, thanks for any reviews you may give.**

 **Be sure to check out Dexios's version if you want to read his supreme** **thievery, and the thoughts of the Q.S.S himself.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Shot Of History

**A/N: Don't even start with how long this chapter took to post; We're really trying, but getting all the facts straight and details worked out can be quite time consuming** **.**

 **The song of this chapter is "** **Cold - Jorge Méndez" if you want to pre-load it. It's not as important, so this is a 'meh' song.**

* * *

 _Chapter Three: A Shot Of History_

 _A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts._

* * *

In the process of my ring spooling in preparation to flatten the entire two story building, I noticed a poster on the wall with Dexios... well, the wolf Dexios holding a wallet in his mouth. Immediately, all the anger built up from our conversation was replaced with a boisterous chuckle. "You really suck at stealing stuff, Dude." I said while deactivating my ring and pulling the page off the wall.

"Wait what? You just said I should run, and now you're looking at a wanted poster and critiquing my skills? I did win, so who really sucks?" He asked with a confused stare.

"Well, I didn't actually steal anything, and I'm not a wanted Q.S.S, so I'd say... Heh-heh-heh, I'm sorry, this is just too funny." I said with a flick of the page. "You look like you're playing fetch." I added with another chuckle.

"So? Winning is winning; I don't really care what it looks like." He opposed.

"Maybe not in this instance, but believe me... it matters what victory looks like." I replied with rejuvenated annoyance. That was the way I thought for a long time, that it didn't matter what winning looked like as long as I won; Nevertheless, with enough time and loss of life he'll come around to what true victory is. "Anywho, I believe we were-" In an instant, my head felt like it was on fire, and it hurt so bad that I gripped the back of it while falling to a knee in a wince of pain. It took me a few seconds before I realized what the problem was, but once I knew, my mind was filled with worry.

"Hey, you okay?" Dexios inquired with a step closer, and an extended hand to help me up.

" _Run system diagnostics._ " I winced in Greek while further clenching my head as the pain increased. After what seemed like hours, my vision was filled with lines of orange text as well as a loading bar that displayed 'rebooting'. By the time all of the orange text faded away from my vision, Dexios had leaned over to help me up.

"Are you sure you're human, and not some faulty robot? Normal humans don't go off in another language... Come on, let's go re-connect you to your mothership."

" _There's no way he know's I need to be connected to the network, that has to be a guess."_ I thought with an uneasy dismissal of his derogatory comment. With my head no longer causing me pain, I simply relaxed and stood up. "I'm fine, just a migraine; And I don't have a mothership." I snipped as a drop of blood dribbled out of my nose, which I quickly wiped away.

"Sure." Dexios said with a studying gaze. "Let's get out of here then."

By the time we reached the bar across town, the only thing giving me light to see was a dim glow of amber street lights every so often, and even then, it wasn't exactly total illumination. The bar itself wasn't anything spectacular; Yellowish orange walls, a small parking lot with all of two cars and truck in it, and a single window next to a glass door that filtered a tinge of light onto the asphalt outside.

Through the window I espied a few people sitting together, and a few by themselves along with what appeared to be an ancient, Pre-war United States flag made of tin cans over the bartender. "After you, Kid; Or should I say 'Pup' now?" I asked with a gesture to the door. It seemed as though he was trying to come up with a witty remark, however, nothing came out in time to be considered a comeback.

Instead, Dexios simply smiled at me as he grabbed the door handle and opened it for me. "Please, after you." He beckoned kindly.

I looked at him with a quizzical stare. "You're actually going to let that go, interest- _Aww_ shit." I blurted while attempting to duck out of the way of some guy's upchuck, only ending in it smacking me right in the face. After a few seconds of the yellow semisolid splattering on the ground, I voiced my thoughts. "Dexios." I stated with heavily suppressed anger as puke dripped from my face. "I very much dislike you right now."

Of course, Dexios struggled to contain his laughter while resting a hand on his chest. "Me? What did I do? I simply grabbed the door for you."

"* _Grumble*_ If you will excuse me, I need to go do some 'robot shenanigans' as you would most likely put it. ANNNNND YOU!" I shouted at the guy looking at my with wide eyes. "Go home, get some rest." I said with a gentle slap to his cheek before wandering around the corner of the bar.

The instant I made it out of sight, I gagged, and almost threw up all over the place, however, I held it back while fiddling with the C.I.P.S module on my combined rings, eventually causing a blue field to cloud over my vision before it started oscillating at a very high frequency. This in turn, caused all the yellow liquid on my face and shirt to fall on the ground as if I was covered in hydrophobic material. "There, all better." I beamed with a deactivation of the module.

With myself restored to cleanliness, I padded into the bar, which immediately smelled like liquor and shame. Most of the tables were made of wooden barrels, but there were a few booths to the left and right along the far walls. In addition, there were several promotions for enlisting into their military glued to the walls, all of which had pictures of people smiling in uniform. Up by the actual bar, there was a Liquid crystal display playing some sort of game on it, and the group of people I saw through the window were intently watching what the people were doing on the TV.

Moving on, the bartender nodded at me just before I located Dexios over in a booth to the left, menu in hand. "Anything good on the menu?" I asked while seating myself across from him.

"The bacon cheese burger sounds good." He answered with a slide of the menu in my direction. "That was quick."

"I already ate, but thanks." I replied with a wave-off of the menu. "It wasn't really all that fast, but I'm still rather annoyed that you did that." I added as a waitress with brown hair, and a black and white striped jersey padded towards us with pen and paper in hand.

"Can I get you two any drinks? Or are you ready to order?"

Dexios was the first to order, evident by him clearing his throat. "I'll have a whisky and the Bacon cheese burger."

"How about you, Hun?" She asked me.

After an unnoticeable glance over at the bottles of liquor on the wall, I replied. "Two glasses of water for me, and a... bottle of two thousand and eight Didier Dagueneau Silex, thank you." I answered with gracious smile. In return, the waitress blankly stared at me.

"He'll have the water to start." Dexios blurted while glaring at me. "He needs to look at the drink menu again." Once the waitress left, the man in a leather jacket leaned in and started chewing me out. "Are you trying to alert them that we aren't from around here, just order something normal." He quietly scolded.

"What?" I replied with confusion. "It's on the menu... Little bit pricy, but I don't know drinks; I only started a week ago, and that's because I was certain I was going to die." I whispered in return.

After a few seconds of Dexios starting at me, he replied. "Yeah, just go for a shot; Whisky or Vodka."

"Hmm... Since you said you wanted the whisky, I guess I'll have that as well." I said before realizing something. " _Disable Cardio-filters_. Can't be having that bothering me." I added moments before the waitress returned with Dexios's amber liquid and my waters.

"Your burger will just be a moment." She informed as Dexios nodded. "And you're still okay?" She asked me.

"Actually, I'd like a bottle of what he's having as well." I answered with another smile. "OH!" I shouted, causing the departing waitress to whip around. "If I can thoroughly impress you, can I get him his burger for free?"

In return, the waitress in a referee's shirt put her hands on her hips."Like magic? Are you a magician?"

"Well, any civilization with sufficient technological advancement can appear to be magical." I replied with a silly smile.

"So what? It's a card trick?" She asked quizzically.

"Levitation, Madam. Pick anything in the room, and I'll make it hover off the ground."

Obviously, such a claim would be nigh impossible to someone of their technological prowess, and as such, she stared at me in disbelief before holding out her pen. "How about this?"

In a flash, I held my left palm below her hand as I activated an advanced photopheresis module embedded within the my rings laser diode, eventing in the pen levitating a few inches off her palm. I then pulled my hand back, dragging the pen with me; With a single flick of my ring finger, the pen began free spinning. "I would call this a magic trick, but no; This is child's play. How about I pick up that dude's bottle of whatever that is?" I said with a subtle point to a man sitting by himself with a large bottle across the room. Meanwhile, I continued to spin the pen above my hand.

"Can you?" She queried with a glance away.

"I can." I replied boastfully. Before the brown haired waitress had a chance to respond, I pointed my left fist in the general direction of the bottle, and my ring made an almost inaudible charging sound as it lit up ever so slightly. Thankfully, her vision was tunneled on the bottle, not my ring. A few moments after my ring charged, the bottle lifted off the table and the owner of said bottle started staring at it disconcertingly. Through all of our exchange, Dexios remained completely silent, as if he was either trying to figure out how my ring worked, or a more likely scenario; If it was my ring at all.

"I… How are you doing that?" She whispered while leaning closer to me as I started pulling the amber liquid from the bottle with another flick of my finger.

"Any civilization with sufficiently advanced technology can appear to be magical." I replied as my gaze shifted to Dexios, to whom I mouthed _'Bitch, I'm magical.'_ I stared at him in anticipation for a response, which came in the form of an eye roll , followed by him kicking me in the shin under the table.

My first thought was him just being obnoxious, however, his eyes were tracking something in the room; Something I least expected. There was a wolf wearing blue jeans and a gray hoodie walking up to the bartender, and it was a she; It took me a second of thinking, though I identified her to be a Red Wolf, and the evidence was from a copper and black face with white tufts of fur under the chin. "Huh?" I mumbled as my left hand went limp and I completely forgot about the bottle. This in turn caused the glass to break on the ground, and the owner of said bottle to sprint from the bar as if his life depended on it.

"Why did you drop it!?" The waitress hissed quietly.

"Her." I replied with a gesture to the wolf gazing at the mess across the room.

"Ugh, those animals have no right to be in our country; I think they should be forced out." She snipped.

" _Hmm, I suppose an intellectually superior race wouldn't fly with Humans."_ I thought in response to her comment about the Raxxlan wolf, unless she was another one of Dexios's 'kind'.

"Uh-huh." I said with a neutral tone. "I think you still have to legally serve her."

"I know." The waitress grumbled before wandering towards the wolf.

"She another one of you things?" I asked Dexios, who was also staring directly at her alongside the entirety of the bar, most of which being hostile in demeanor.

"Huh? No, she's just a wolf." He answered after returning from his daze. "Didn't know they had them here..." Was added in a mumble before turning back to me. "What was that magic crap about? I thought we were going to lay low?"

"It's playing the part, I'm not stupid; In this universe I'm a scientist for the military. And what are you talking about with the Raxxlans being here; I thought you never went into space. Speaking of, when she leaves, we're following her; I need something she has." I said with the new found knowledge of her not being like Dexios.

"What?" He asked indignantly. "No, I never went to space, and what the hell is a Raxxlan? Wait..." He leaned in and dropped to a hushed whisper. "You aren't going to kidnap her, are you?" He asked with another sip of his drink.

"And if I was?" I calmly replied with a copying sip of my water.

Dexios took a deep breath. "I think I'll need more alcohol." He said upon finishing the drink; With the simple wave of his hand, the waitress brought over another glass."What does she have that you need?" He asked with reluctance for what I suggested. Of course, I couldn't tell him what I really wanted from the Raxxlan; That would give him far too much knowledge.

"It's... a secret. All it'll take is a few hours of information extraction and I'll be done." I replied casually.

"... Um, you know she might just tell me without having to kidnap her."

" _HA, you think I'd fall for a ploy so transparent as that?"_ I internally mocked. "Unlikely, and don't think you can get past the fact I'd have to tell you what the secret is."

Before Dexios responded, the waitress showed up with my bottle of whisky and Dexios's glass of the same. "Sorry about the wait; Here's your drink, on the house for that specular performance." The waitress chirped before wandering away.

"Doesn't really inspire confidence." He said with a glance back at the Wolf. "Way I see it is you can spill the beans and I help you, or I help her just for the fun of it."

" _Oh no-no-no, this just won't do."_ I thought. "Way I see it is I can just blow a hole in your chest, and leave; But in an effort to make more friends than enemies, she has a hyperspace capable ship; I want it. Do you even know what hyperspace is?" I asked with doubt as to the intelligence of the quantum superposition errand boy sitting in front of me.

"I see." He pondered. "What would you gain from her ship, if she even has one?"

"It's not an if, Kid; There's no way for her to be here unless she has one, and I'm not about to tell you my inner workings; After all, you lied about only being able to Superpose. Now, if you want to get more out of me, we're going to have to make an agreement on something." I said, fully expecting him to clam up about his life since I already found out something he definitely didn't want me to know.

"Okay, a game then; You dodge a question, drink. Answer vaguely, drink. But if you answer truthfully, you don't drink."

" _Of course I'd get that one detail wrong… Oh why not, I can just kill him if he says anything to someone else._ The rules apply to you as well?" I asked, receiving a nod in return. "Very well, I will answer all that I'm at liberty to discuss with you." I said while pouring myself a shot. "I know a bit about your _gift_ , so you ask first."

"Alright, you aren't completely human; What exactly are you?"

Of all the things to start off with, why did it have to be something like that. "I'm the Galactic Gene bearer for my universe; My title is the Galactic tracker. Now, I'll start off with something easy; What's your real name?" I asked, which earned a sigh from Dexios.

"Atticus O'Conner."

" _That name is SO stupid!"_ I thought in response. " _Wait… nah, doesn't mean anything secret to my knowledge."_

"That headache you had back in the alley, what was it about?"

"Yeah, that's not happening." I smirked before downing the amber liquid, followed by choking as it burned my throat. "The fuck is this shit? And that's not my question." I coughed out as what felt like liquid fire went down my throat.

"It's the good stuff, now your question?"

"Good stuff? It better get me wasted for this taste." I said with a cringe. "Did you meet any doppelgangers since you arrived?"

"One so far." He answered. "How old are you? In my years, there's three hundred and sixty five days in a year."

"I suppose you're talking about the Earth's orbital speed?"

"Yes." Dexios replied.

"Well, I have three different sets of age, and no, I'm not being vague. My turn, Who's Luna?" I said with a sip of water to help my eviscerated throat.

"That was still pretty dodgy." Dexios said in reference to my answer. "As for Luna? She was once a werewolf, but upon her death she became something else."

"Oh, so I was right." I replied in a smirk. " _That wolf is a messenger to the Guardians in his universe; Probably serving out her thousand year enlistment. Or maybe she's been recycled."_

"Mhmm, is that so?" Dexios questioned with a glance around the bar. "So, got anyone back on your planet waiting for you?"

" _... Yeah, I'm not dignifying that with a response."_ I thought while silently clenching my fists to the point where I thought I would shatter the shot glass in my hand.

"I see, in that case drink up." Dexios instructed, and without another word, I poured a shot and gulped it down as I stared at him with vexation.

"What are your other powers?" I asked coldly.

"Hmmm, like my increased speed, smell, sight, healing, and the obvious?" He asked.

" _I knew it… agian! He does have more powers, but they aren't exactly good ones... so why have them at all?..._ That's all of it?" I asked skeptically.

"Oh, I had a vision once, of the future to come once... I think." He answered with uncertainty.

" _That's more like a power that could actually be useful."_ I surmised while Dexios took yet another glance around the bar, however, this time he lingered on the wolf as she drank away at the actual bar.

"What's your home planet like?" He asked.

"Pretty normal for a terraformed planet, but I didn't get to spend much time there. Since you were so keen on asking it; Do you have anyone in your universe?" I asked as the effects of whatever this 'whisky' was, started taking hold on my body.

"No... Not anymore." He said with a voluntary swig. "You said you had three different sets of ages; Care to explain?"

"I don't think you can handle the truth." I replied honestly.

"Is that so? Try me?" He ignorantly challenged.

"I have Chronological, cellular, and Neurological ages, all of which differ exponentially." I deadpanned. "Well, I'm out of questions for now, so fire at will." I added after he didn't reply to the state of my age.

"Yeah, I got nothing." He said with a sip of the amber liquid in his glass.

The alcohol running through my bloodstream was starting to take more of an effect on me, and I believe that's why I decided to tell him of my past, and the consequences of going home. "Well... I guess I changed my mind about not answering one of those questions; I had a family in my universe. A wife, daughter, and a son on the way... then I was brought here, and now they've been dead for over three-thousand years. The worst part is I talked to my wife in that church, and had to watch her die." I mumbled before chugging almost a third of the bottle of whisky. "This crap better make me forget today." I grumbled in sadness.

"Damn… Can you get back to them?" He asked sympathetically.

"Not without help from the * _hic*_ Guardians. But if I go back... _ALLLL_ this is gone, and you're gone with it." I explained with another swig directly from the bottle. "My life was destined to be everyone's fall guy." One thing after another, no matter how hard I tried to save someone, they were always lost forever. What a great way to live.

"Who are the Guardians, and why would all this be gone?" Dexios asked as his whole demeanor changed to one of terribly suppressed panic.

In return, I began hysterically giggling at his statement. "DUH! I'm time traveling back three thousand years, Dipstick! This planet, and yours, will be building pyramids while I'm cruising at eight-thousand times the speed of light! L-listen, I have a Quirium Hyperspace gateway in my basement, so shut up." I murmured as my balance started fading away. By that time, I'd lost all sense of judgment, and all I saw was the objective in the room.

"YOU!" I yelled at the wolf sitting up by the bar, who had her head craned towards me. "You're coming with _*hic*_ me." I ordered just before Dexios took my empty bottle of liquid fire away. Next thing I knew it, the wolf was leaving the bar. It wasn't like I was just going to let her get away, and I really needed her ship, so I pulled all the stops to catch her.

 **{ Cold - Jorge Méndez }**

"Umm, how do you say that again?" I wondered to myself as I attempted to stand from the booth to chase after the wolf. "I know this! Activate the Cardio-filters and activate the battle awareness and amplification overlay!" I victoriously shouted into the air, just before Dexios left. "Heyyyyy, don't leave me." I whined, though he was already gone.

That was of my least concern, because I immediately realized the mistake I made; At first, my vision was filled with an overlay with the condition of my body along with a few other things, however, the system malfunctioned shortly after, and the burning sensation in my head returned, except this time it was much… much worse.

"AHHHH!" I screamed while collapsing on the ground in pain. My entire body felt like it was on fire, and the source was my head and spine. The sensation was indescribable, and it only became worse as the seconds passed. "SHUT IT OFF!" I screamed in pain, causing the overlay to instantly disappear. Though the pain was gone, my body was still in shock, so I laid on the ground in a ball for awhile. Eventually, I noticed my nose was bleeding profusely, and there was someone trying to help me up, but I couldn't understand what they were trying to say to me; It was just muffled noise. Nevertheless, the man continued to help me up, talking all the while.

"Leave me alone." I groggily demanded as I stood up with a heavy wobble and blood trickling out of my nose.

"Sir, you have to pay for your drinks."

"Do I?" I questioned as my ring spooled at his stomach.

"Whoa… Just-just get outta here." He warily said with a few back steps.

"No, I gotta pay, remember." I grumbled while fishing out a few hundreds.

"Not that much!" He squawked in response.

"I don't gi-give a shit." I replied while dropping the money as I stumbled outside.

* * *

I really had no clue where Dexios went, but I decided on taking a left in my search for him. The further I shuffled down the dimly lit, entirely empty streets, my haze of heavy blood alcohol content started lifting thanks to the Cardio-filters, which I didn't disable. " _I can't believe I'd ever be stupid enough to activate that without being connected."_ I thought just before realizing my nose was still leaking all over the place.

"Not much I can do about that now." I said before looking up at the stars overhead. "Clara… Could you possibly come help me?" I asked into the moist air, feeling like a total idiot all the while. After waiting for a minute or two, I continued on down the road.

"Figures." I mumbled in disappointment.

After stumbling in a random direction for a while, I realized I'd really screwed up by turning on the implant. The entire front of my tan shirt was stained muddy red, and parts of my Olive green pants had streaks of blood on them as well. Nevertheless, I kept walking through the dimly lit night, and ended up stopping at a lamp post to lean up against. "Sorry, Clara. But imma die if you don't help me." I whispered as my eyes grew heavy under the amber light and my muscles weakened, forcing me to slump against the post.

"Alright Elliot, I'm here-WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Clara screeched from behind me.

"Not so loud." I whined as the Guardian laid me out on the pavement.

"What did you do to yourself?" She demanded as a few particles of dim light danced in and out of my vision, almost like tiny fireflies.

"I was stupid, but at least you can fix me." I said with a fatigued smile and a small cough.

"Elliot, I barely know how to use my A.C.R as it is." She admitted in worry.

"... Well crap." I whispered moments before I started choking on my own blood as it trickled back up my nose.

"No-no-no-no-no, we need you to help us. Um… ummmmm, You can fix yourself, just-just use my power! But you have to promise to give it back." Clara stammered.

"I'd ra- _*choke*_ rather you do it. Just think of it as… a learning experience." I whispered as my eyes forced themselves shut. Slowly, her pleas for me to use her power turned into more muffled sobs, and eventually all that was left was an eerie feeling of cold emptiness. It didn't last though, and I found myself laying right where I was, except I was all better and a post-it note was attached to my forehead. Before reading it, I looked down at myself, and saw that all the blood stained into my clothes was dried and caked onto my skin.

" _Next time you hurt yourself, call me instead of Claramond, Idiot. As for what caused your various types of bleeding, I still have no idea; I imagine you do, so let me know, and let me know how you're feeling, because though I may not show it, I do care if you die._

 _Your's truly, Rachel."_

" _How did she not see the implant?"_ I wondered as I crumpled up the note and ate it while staring into the partly cloudy, star lit sky. "Welp, this night officially sucks." I grumbled while picking bits of dried blood off my face.

My first attempt to stand up ended in one of the worst headaches I've felt in a while, so I opted to lay on the cold asphalt and watch the moon rise while picking the rest of the blood off. "I wonder if there's really something in there on his planet." I absentmindedly murmured. It would be quite the strange thing to have an outpost within the moon, though, that could always be the facility in which his Guardians draw power from earth.

My only hope for this universe was that maybe the Guardians weren't total pricks, and maybe they were actually looking out for the world. "Ha, as if that would ever happen." I smirked before noticing the graphite sections of my ring were pulsing red, and indicative warning that the ring needed to discharge its heat buildup.

"Oh yeah, I don't have the entangled heat sync anymore." I realized while sitting upright at tortoise levels of speed so I didn't make the waning headache any worse. "Well, let's go find you a lake to vaporize." I said to the ring. "Wow, I'm talking to inanimate objects… and myself. Ehh, what's the worst that could come from it? I mean, at least I'm not a drunk idiot anymore." I added while inching myself upright.

"I guess I should keep looking for Atticus… aww shit, the bartender." I hissed upon remembering I threatened him with a laser. "Too late now." I determined as I started shuffling down an alley to get onto the next road over. I then made a left and started circling back towards the bar, that is if I was remembering correctly. What I didn't remember was why he left, or why I chased after him. " _There must've been a good reason."_

I shuffled down the amber lit streets for a while, and eventually a light fog rolled in. It reduced visibility ever so slightly, although, by that point in the night I wasn't exactly able to see all that well to begin with. Being in a town that was literally empty at night was rather strange to me, not that I found it creepy… well, as long as the voices stayed away. It was quiet, calm, and the sounds of various types of bugs was relieving compared to the sounds of gunfire and screaming.

"Hey, You. Gimme your cash or I'll put a cap in ur' ass." Someone ordered from the shadows, prompting me to quietly raise my left hand and charge my ring for a linear focused, medium pulse of energy.

"That was a mistake." I replied before pulling the proverbial trigger on my weapon, which in turn sent a screech of orange particles into the stranger. I then flicked my wrist a few times, effectively cutting him into at least five pieces, not that I bothered to count after the fact.

"What an idiot." I said under my breath before shuffling on down the street. Eventually, I reached the end of the paved road, and shortly after that, the end of the buildings. I decided I'd go down one more street in my slow search for dexios.

As I trailed down the dirt path, I came upon a sign off the road with a big, golden star that said 'Sheriff' on it, and up ahead there was a large cabin with green sheet metal roofing and and a grass lawn.

"The hell… Is that a stockade?" I queried with a squint through the darkness. Being the impatient person that I can sometimes be, I lifted my left hand, and adjusted the ring to a wide focus, miniscule power setting. When I squeezed my fist to 'fire', the ring revolted with several bright red flashes of light.

"Crap." I grumbled before taking the ring off, then throwing it down the road with a slow heat discharge. About halfway through the airborne trajectory, all facets of the ring illuminated either Red or blue, which eventually blended into a vibrant purple color. From afar, it looked like someone threw a very large chemical light-stick on the ground, however, as I grew nearer and nearer, the surrounding air became much warmer, warm enough to make me hot as I stood over the ring.

"Halt thermal discharge." I commanded to the ring, which instantly stopped glowing. I then picked up the torus and threw it down the road again. The process was repeated about three times before I made it to what was thought to be a stockade.

"It is a stockade. A tiny, child sized stockade." I observed through the darkness before turning the orange 'flashlight' on the object of interest, which immediately made me jump in surprise, followed by falling on my ass from lack of balance and blood.

"What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously as an albino bobcat awoke from what looked like a rather uncomfortable slumber. The moment it realized I was sitting there, I was met with so many words.

" _Please don't hurt me, I didn't do anything. I-I-I just came here to see the scenic side of this country, and then the police planted-"_

" _SHUT… UP."_ I interrupted in Raxxlan as the sensation of a migraine pelted me like hail. Before long, I was laying on my back while massaging my temples in an attempt to make the ache stop.

"You speak my-"

"Did I say to start talking?" I interrupted again.

"... Why are you covered in blood?" She asked warily, not that I'd blame her for being worried about a stranger covered in blood.

"Obviously you're not going to shut up; It's my blood, and I almost bled out, and now you gave me a migraine… Will you shut up now?" I asked with exasperation.

"Oh… Are you going to be okay?" She asked with curiosity.

"Are you going to shut up?" I mocked.

"You're annoying, ya-know that." She said with a pull at the stockade. "I can't believe this actually happened to me." Was hopelessly mumbled shortly after.

"Join the club. But I still think I have it worse than you." I replied at the thought of our respective problems, which was responded with her spitting on me. Her attempt at disrespectfulness only impacted the C.I.P.S and created a small, blue ripple over my face. "That's not very nice of you; We're just having conversation." I responded as the shield oscillated to remove her spit.

"Yeah, sure you're in more trouble than me." She countered before returning to getting one of her limbs free.

"Never judge a book by it's cover; You might realize there's more to a story than what initially meets the eye."

" _*Pff*_ whatever." She dismissed.

"Tell me your name and why you're here, and I might just let you go." I said with the interest as to why an advanced civilization would be here, and how she managed to be captured. Hopefully this would also spark a real, lengthy conversation.

"I already told you guys; My name is Ania Felid, and I'm here on vacation. I just wanted to see what this country was like; I'm not a terrorist, or a spy, or anything. I work _RETAIL_ at a little corner shop, okay!" The albino bobcat shouted with aggrievance.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I replied while sitting up, which almost brought me to her rather small stature. "If you work retail, how could you afford a ship to get over here?" I questioned, fully expecting her to lie about the cost of a hyperspace capable ship. Even in my world, such a ship to make the transit would cost tens of millions of credits.

"Are you kidding me, I can't afford a ship that could make that journey, I bought a ticket."

" _Say WHAAAAAAT? She bought a ticket to a planet forty five thousand light years away?_... So, if I were to help you escape, would you possibly lead me back to this ship you rented the ticket on."

"Listen, If you help me escape, I'd… I'd totally take you to the boat!" Ania replied as if she initially planned on saying something else; Perhaps it was all a ruse, and she would betray me. " _Ehh, I can kill her if she tries to escape."_

"Deal." I affirmed before putting my ring up to the padlock on the stockade. "Close your eyes." I said moments before firing the weapon into the lock, heating it up to the point of orange slag. Before I had a chance to pull the board off the small cat, some old, scraggly dude with a pistol came out of the sheriff's station.

"Freeze!" He shouted just before my ring lit up bright red, followed by flashing several times.

"Uh-oh." I absentmindedly mumbled while pulling the latter off as fast as possible, followed by throwing it at the man.

"What kinda chuckwagon ring is that?" The deputy questioned as the ring harmlessly bounced off his archaic body armor. In an instant, the entire spot where the man stood was enveloped in blinding white light, and the heat it gave off was instantly as hot as an oven. A side effect of the rapidly heating atmosphere unfortunately meant rapid atmosphere expansion, which resulted in a defining boom of thunder that rang throughout the entire valley.

"Run!" I shouted to the white bobcat while lifting the board holding her down. Of course, this 'Ania' needed no incentive to run, and she was soon out of my view. On the other hand, I was far too weak to run, and I was forced hobble away or face falling.

On one hand, if I fell, it would take me at least ten more seconds to get back up, but if I only walked, I would become a living bacon strip. By the time I made it up a small grass hill where the cat ran off to, my clothing was completely charred, either off my body or into my skin, along with my back feeling numb in some areas and extremely painful in others.

Instead of attempting to make it somewhere I wouldn't be seen, I simply face planted into the grass from a mixture of exhaustion and pain. "Ahhh-ha-ha-haaa… Worst… Déjà vu… Ever." I winced as my eyes closed in preparation to be captured by whomever was growing nearer and nearer.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Remember to check out Dexios's version, it's full of drunken character thought process too.**_

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